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ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

You Be the Coder:

Code Critical Care and Additional Services

Published on Sat Jun 05, 2010

Question:The ED physician spends a total of 108 minutes caring exclusively for a critically injured patient who has suffered a stroke of the carotid artery and an acute anterolateral wall acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The physician orders rapid sequence intubation to facilitate breathing, and uses a sequence of drugs during the intubation: 5 mg of intravenous Versed and 150 mg of IV succinylcholine. The intubation took seven minutes, and the physician spends the other 101 minutes of the encounter time at the patient's bedside or conversing with his wife to get medical information the patient cannot provide. Can I code the intubation and critical care separately?New Hampshire SubscriberAnswer:
You can code for the critical care and intubation; the drug supply codes are a no-go, though. On the claim, report the following:99291 (Critical care, evaluation and management of the critically ill or critically injured patient; first 30-74 minutes) for the first [...]
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